


Earthbound

by Corrie71



Series: STID Missing Moments [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 11:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corrie71/pseuds/Corrie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More missing McKirk scenes from STID. These take us from the breaking of the Prime Directive at Niribu to just before the top brass meeting at Starfleet HQ. Enjoy!</p>
<p>**edited because I didn't realize it cut the end of the scene off when I posted the first time. Sorry!**</p>
            </blockquote>





	Earthbound

_Independence Day, San Francisco, 2259_

 

“Come on, kid. Let’s go see some fireworks.” 

 

At sunset on the 4th of July, Bones and Jim ended up on the roof of their quarters, in their favorite hiding spot. Jim loved it there because they were distant enough from the city’s light pollution to see the stars. Bones could not count the number of times they’d been up there together, after he realized that Jim was the best friend he’d ever had. In his squishy, romantic, marshmallow of a heart—which he would deny with his dying breath--Bones believed that this rooftop was where they’d fallen so desperately in love. Therefore, it was one of Bones’ most favorite spots in the entire universe. Soon, they would both put the Academy behind them and another whole generation of Starfleet would move in to their dorm and perhaps some lucky couple would lay claim to their rooftop. Bones wanted to enjoy it one last time.

 

 After they ate their picnic, Jim rested with his head on Bones’ lap, watching the stars wink on. Bones just watched him, feeling lovestruck. Jim usually pulsated with energy, like he’d swallowed a supernova, and, when they were in the black, never stopped careening around the Enterprise like a pinball.   Only Bones got to see the relaxed side of Jim anymore, without the heavy burden of command.

 

“You want dessert, darlin’?” Bones asked as twilight deepened to indigo, pausing in carding his fingers through Jim’s golden hair.  

 

“You promised me fireworks, Bones. But, hey, I’m always up for dessert.” Jim laughed and sat up, leaning in to steal a kiss to underscore the entendre.

 

“You are an infant.” After briefly rummaging in the picnic basket, Bones held out his palm, a decadently frosted cupcake with a sparkler candle carefully balanced in it. “Happy Birthday.” Jim blinked and looked back up at Bones, his brows lifted. Bones savored that moment. It wasn’t often he got to surprise Jim Kirk.

 

“Bones, my birthday was six months ago. Or six months away. Either way, it’s not today.”

 

“Never read Alice in Wonderland, kid?”

 

“Half-birthday.” Jim smiled a true smile, the kind that animates his whole face. They’d never celebrated his birthday together, ever. Jim hated his birthday since it marked the day of his father’s death and heralded maudlin remembrance stories in the media. And Bones respected that. He did. He understood why Jim might not feel like celebrating on that day. Still, he wanted a chance to celebrate  the miracle that was Jim Kirk. 

 

Jim chomped a bite out of the cupcake, smearing white frosting over his lush bottom lip. Bones leaned over to lick it off just as the first Independence Day fireworks crackled overhead. Neither Bones nor Jim saw a single firework as they spent Jim’s half-birthday creating a fireworks display of their very own.

 

* * * 

 

A beeping comm woke them before dawn the next morning. “I think it’s yours, Jim.” Bones slurred before rolling  up into the blankets and going back to sleep for all of sixty seconds before his maniac of a boyfriend landed on top of him.

 

“Bones! That was Pike. He wants to see me today.”

 

“Good for Pike. Go see him and let me sleep.”

 

“You know why! This is it! We’re going to get that five year mission.” Jim bounced on the bed like a kid on Christmas morning. Realizing that sleep was futile, Bones groaned and rolled up to prop himself against the headboard, trying to focus his bleary eyes on Jim.

 

“I hate to break this to you but we haven’t actually graduated. I know we’ve been on this PR cruise for a while. But we are still actually cadets. They do not give cadets five year missions. They don’t give anyone five year missions.”

 

“You might be a cadet. I’m a Captain.” Jim bounced into the kitchen to make coffee.

 

“We didn’t actually graduate,  Jim. I, for one, was a tad shy of academic credit before we took our little field trip to save the world.”

 

Jim patted him on the shoulder and handed him a cup of coffee before bouncing back to the kitchen to order up breakfast. “Bones, you worry too much. We’re the saviors of the Federation. You don’t need academic credit for that.”

 

“You’re not listening to me. I have a semester to finish at the Academy. I’m going back to school in the fall.” Bones said, clearly and precisely, setting his coffee cup down on the bedside table. 

 

“For how long?” Jim crunched on a bagel as he leaned against the kitchenette counter.

 

“I’ll graduate in December.”

 

“Fine. You can join me and the Enterprise then. You’ll just have a four and a half year mission instead of my five year one.” Jim shrugged and headed for the en suite to dress.

 

“We may not get the five year mission, kid. No one’s ever gotten that before, much less a bunch of kids not even out of the Academy. And even if you do, I don’t want to go into space for five years. God knows, I don’t want to go into the black for five minutes.” Bones raked his hands through his hair. Damn. They’d been enjoying their shore leave. He hadn’t wanted to have this conversation.

 

“Is the fear of flying thing again?” Jim yelled as he styled his hair and, naked, dashed past Bones to get to their closet. Bones reached out and grabbed his hand, getting him to still. Never an easy task.

 

“Jim, I’ve been offered a job. Research. Here. Dirtside.”

 

Jim shook his head, cocky grin slipping slightly. “But Bones, you’re a doctor, not a researcher.”

 

“Medical research. That’s done by doctors, genius.” 

 

“Well, that’s great. I mean, that’s really good. And…” Jim looked at him, his big, incredible blue eyes woebegone. 

 

“Doctor McCoy, I’m trying really hard here to be your Captain. And wish you well for the best choice for your career and all of that, like I would for any crew member.” Jim dropped to his knees by the bed and clasped their hands together.  “But, Bones, I need you. I can’t go up into the black without you. Can’t you research from the Enterprise? Or do research later, when we’re too old to ride the stars?”

 

They stared into each others eyes for an endless moment. Bones always thought it was a special torment from the gods that the love of his life had those eyes the color of the sky over Terra. They were his reminders of home when he was up in the black. Who was he kidding? Home was in those eyes.

 

He opened his mouth to answer and his comm beeped. Surprised, he picked it up. 

 

“Julia?”

 

“Who’s Julia?” Jim demanded as he headed into the closet. Bones held up a finger so he could listen as Jim dressed.

 

After he disconnected the call and reluctantly slid out of the still cozy bed, Bones answered, “Julia is an old medical school colleague, you jealous infant.”

 

“Hey, nobody gets to lay a finger on my Bones.” Jim laughed, bright and happy, the sound echoing in the tile bathroom.

 

“She’s old enough to be my grandmother. She heads up the London Royal Children’s Hospital now. Says she has a miraculous case and wants me to come over and take a look.”

 

“Will you be gone long? I want to celebrate our mission tonight. We should call up Uhura and Scotty and…”

 

“Not so fast, Jimmy. See what Pike wants first before you plan the party, okay? Good luck in your meeting. I’ll see you tonight.” Bones bent down and brushed a kiss over Jim’s full lips. “I’m looking forward to…” here he whispered intentions so naughty that even the mighty Captain Kirk, sky god and lover extraordinare blushed… “with the youngest Starfleet Captain ever tonight.”

 

Kirk smiled at him. “Should we go out to eat?”

 

“Let’s get takeout, honey.” Bones patted his shoulder and they left.

 

 

******

 

“Julia, you can’t be thinking that kid in there just regenerated? From what? Magic?” Bones asked, as he sat in Julia’s plush office overlooking London at dusk, an undrunk cup of tea next to him. 

 

Though he’d assured Jim that Julia was old enough to be his grandmother, he’d neglected to mention that she was still a very lovely woman for 85. In fact, she appeared no older than about 50, slender and youthful, with intelligent hazel eyes and perfectly coiffed bob. Bones may have suffered a crush on her when she was his professor back at UMiss. 

 

“I don’t know, Leo. All I can tell you is that she was at death’s door yesterday and now she’s running up and down the hallways. Hasn’t played on the monkey bars in months and now look at her. I don’t know another word for that other than miracle.”

 

“I’d like to run some tests.”

 

 Julia smiled at him. “I knew you would.”

 

His comm beeped just as they were negotiating how much blood he could have for his tests. He intended to ignore it but glanced down anyway, in case it was Jim. When he saw it was Uhura, he answered instantly.

 

“Leonard, are you with Jim?” She sounded upset.

 

“No, why? What’s happened?” His heart lurched in his chest. There was no way Jim could be in danger. Though if anyone could attend a bureaucratic meeting with deadly consequences, it was Jim Kirk.

 

“They took away his ship. They took away the Enterprise.” 

 

“What?” Bones whooshed. “Why?”

 

“Nibiru.”

 

“But how do they know about that? The reports didn’t mention it.”

 

“One did.” Uhura said, anger clear in her voice. Because it was Nyota and because of Julia’s interested gaze on him, Leonard refrained from shouting invectives about that green-blooded hobgoblin bastard. He bit his lip so hard he drew blood and then said, “I’ll be back in San Francisco within the hour. Nyota, thanks for calling.”

 

“Trouble back home?” Julia tilted her head to the side and waited for him to speak. Suddenly, he remembered that she was also a psychologist, in addition to her pediatric specialities. 

 

“It’s my captain. He’s in a spot of trouble.”

 

“Jim Kirk? I imagine he revels in a spot of trouble. Not like you at all. That one’s a devil. You can see it from the twinkle in his eyes.”

 

“Yes, ma’am. He is indeed a devil.” Bones glanced down at his undrunk cup of tea, hoping to keep Julia from seeing too much, and shifted to rise. 

  

“You are good for each other. You make a good team, I mean. I wasn’t surprised to see you on the news reports. Everyone knew you were one of the most brilliant medical minds of this century, perhaps any century. I always knew you’d distinguish yourself.”

“That’s very kind.”

“But, you can be quiet too, reserved, too reluctant to take a risk. Those same qualities that make you such a good doctor can make you a bit of…”

“A stick in the mud?” 

“Not an expression we say here in London much but, yes, precisely. Kirk is good for you. It’s good to see you so happy after everything that happened with Pamela. When I saw you on those news reports, you were always right there by his side, his right hand man. He looked to you, over and over. Just little glances, reassuring himself you were there. And I saw you do much the same. Does he know?”

“Know what?” Bones asked, confused.

“How very much you love him.”

“I hope so. I think he’s going to need to know it.”

“I’ll let you get back to him then. You’ll let me know your test results?”

Bones took his leave of Julia and hurried to the shuttle bay, anxious to get home to Jim. He struggled not to think of the agony Jim must be in, having lost the chair of the Enterprise. He frantically called Jim with no response. After his shuttle was delayed twice for a thunderstorm—because they still couldn’t control the weather in the 23rd century—Bones called Pike to ask where to find Jim. 

“How could you take away his ship, Christopher? How could you do it?” Bones demanded as soon as he got through.

“Doctor McCoy, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“You know damn well.”

“Could it be you’re calling to correct your recent report of the survey on Nibiru? I believe there were some items that were, inadvertently I am certain, omitted from the medical log. Because I am just as certain that you would not call a senior officer over your boyfriend’s career troubles.”

“Boyfriend?” Bones managed to stammer. 

“You two can’t honestly believe you’re fooling anyone with that buddy act, can you?”

Bones sucked in air through his nose. The secrecy was Jim’s idea. Bones didn’t care who knew. Instead of confirming Christopher’s assertion, he asked “Where’s Jim?”

“Why don’t you tell me? He’s gone to ground to lick his wounds.”

So Bones told him the places where he thought Jim would go. And hoped like hell that he could get home before Jim did anything else rash and reckless.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) I chose not to write the scene with transporting Spock out of the volcano. I actually think that they did a really excellent job on that scene. It reminded me of the 2009 re-boot relationship of Bones and Jim. I love how Jim turned to Bones for advice. The transporter room was perfect when Bones said disgustedly, “He’s fine!” I just really didn’t have anything to add there. 
> 
> 2) There is no real indication of the time lapse between the events on Niribu and the dressing down in San Francisco. The Star Trek Wiki says it was stardate 2259.55 which means it was in February of 2259. I took some artistic license to get to the date I wanted but I don’t think it affects the story any. I just chose to set it around the 4th of July to give Jim and Bones a fluffy scene. God knows, we’re going to need it. 
> 
> 3) Jim’s birthday is supposedly the 4th of January in this rebooted universe so that makes his half-birthday the 4th of July. 
> 
> 4) With the Federation and all, I’m not sure that they would still celebrate Independence Day. In fact, I suspect they don’t. However, if they can turn the Enterprise into a submarine, I can have some fireworks. And some fluff.
> 
> 5) With the intercut of London and San Fran, it’s a bit difficult to establish the timeline of events there. The sequence I chose is to have the girl cured the early morning of the 5th of July (London time) simultaneous with the fireworks fluff shown here. Bones is then called to London to consult on the miracle healing (doesn’t that make more sense than the stupid tribble?) while Jim and Spock are having their dressing down. As Bones is flying home and Jim is drinking in the bar, the Kelvin archives attack happens. 
> 
> 6) We are just all going to agree to ignore the double kitty cat girls snippet and pretend it never happened. Let us never speak of it again.
> 
> 7) I suspect this was because the filmmakers didn’t know how successful the reboot would be. But, I thought that at the end of the 2009 film that they were off on their 5 year mission. STID indicates that did not, in fact, happen. So, my own personal headcanon is that the Enterprise crew has been off on a Public Relations tour of the Federation territory because you just know that group of kids were celebrities when the got back to Earth. That’s what causes the morning discussion between Jim and Bones and why they are still living in the Academy dorms.


End file.
